Manus Island clashes captured by ABC
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REPORTS of another round of unrest at the Manus Island Detention Centre overnight have been denied by the Immigration Minister.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison this morning said he has been advised the evening passed without incident, with staff "proactively managing the centre overnight to ensure that conditions remained calm".

One hundred extra security staff are on standby for deployment as tensions remain high following Monday night's chaos, which resulted in 77 asylum seekers suffering mostly head injuries.

Yesterday evening refugee advocate Ian Rintoul said two injured people have been taken for treatment to the Bibby Progress, a cruise vessel used as accommodation for Manus Island's 635 staff.

"There is another attack happening right now and two injured people have been taken to the boats for attention,'' Mr Rinoul said about 7.30pm AEST.

Mr Rintoul said people from outside the centre had again attacked as he claims they did on Monday night, and had entered the same way.

"They came to the perimeter fence at the Mike compound side of the detention centre.''

Separate reports state the detention facility was put under a "Code Red" alert status at about 7pm last night. SBS reports staff from the centre contacted the broadcaster about that time to say there was a fresh disturbance.

But a spokesman for Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said talk of renewed violence was false.

"We are advised that a report issued by activists ... claiming an attack on the Manus Island facility are false,’’ he said.

"Should there be any further developments in relation to the situation at the Manus Island processing centre the Government will provide updates, as has been our practice in relation to this incident over the past 48 hours."

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison confirms one asylum seeker is dead and 77 are injured after another night of violence at the Manus Island detention centre.

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18 Feb 2014

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Justice Minister Michael Keenan, on an official visit to Port Moresby, was expected to meet PNG Attorney-General Kerenga Kua last night to discuss the incident.

Iran summons Australian ambassador

Meanwhile Iran's official IRNA news agency is reporting the country's foreign ministry has summoned the Australian ambassador to protest the death of an Iranian who sought asylum in Australia.

The Tuesday report says the ministry's consular director, Hosein Mirfakhar, expressed Iran's ``protest and discontent'' to Paul Foley about the asylum seeker, who died during a violent protest in a detention camp run by Australia on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.

Island of discontent ... A detainee at the fence of the Manus Island Detention Centre. Picture: Edwards Nathan

The Iranian official sought changes in the treatment of asylum seekers, said IRNA.

The report did not identify the asylum seeker, who died from head injuries.

In recent years, Iranian nationals have been among the thousands of people who seek asylum in Australia. Many have attempted to reach the country by boat, mostly from Indonesia.

Demands broad, indepentent investigation

The federal opposition has called for a broader inquiry into the violence at the Manus Island detention centre and the circumstances which lead up to the incident.

PNG authorities are investigating the death of the Iranian national, while Australia Immigration Department secretary Martin Bowles will also conduct an internal review into the incident.

Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek said the reports are "very disturbing" and warrant further investigation.

"It is important that we, given we've got Australian staff there and Australian taxpayers are responsible for significant expense, that we know all of the details," she told ABC Radio this morning.

She admits Labor's decision to reopen the centre in 2012 was "difficult", but "the risk to the people who were making these journey was really weighing on all of our minds".

Labor's immigration spokesman Richard Marles says the Australian review does not go far enough because it doesn't look into what happened outside the detention compound.

But he joined Immigration Minister Scott Morrison in dismissing calls for the centre to be closed, saying it played an important job in border protection.

"It's not good enough that there is an inquiry which only looks at what happens within the perimeter of the fence of the facility,'' he told ABC radio this morning.

"The detention centre sits within the context of a community and we need to understand what's going on there.''

The president of the Australian Human Rights Commission Gillian Triggs has called for an independent inquiry to investigate the situation and the conditions that led to the violence.

She said the inquiry could be headed by either a member of the judiciary or a retired civil servant.

"But somebody who has objectivity and able to look at the development of the facts and to really assess what the conditions are for people,'' she told ABC radio this morning.

Ms Triggs says Australia has a responsibility to look after asylum seekers and many of them have lost sense of the basic rule of law and hope of their claims being assessed on time.

"They simply live in despair and ultimately that becomes highly inflammatory.'' She called for the establishment of a formal oversight body as recommended by the expert panel on asylum seekers set up by the former Gillard government.

More details of attack emerge

Late last night more details emerged earlier of how PNG police fired shots during a chaotic, violent riot that left one dead and 77 injured on Manus Island.

While the situation still remains unclear with claim and counter-claim as to who was responsible for the bloodshed, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said this afternoon that Papua New Guinea police opened fire on two occasions last night, as a "peaceful protest" turned into chaotic violence.

Mr Morrison said that after asylum seekers "pushed down internal fences", G4S security guards were unable to contain them, leading to PNG police firing shots at 11.20pm and again at 1am before order was restored at 2am.

But he said he was not aware they fired at asylum seekers.

"Shots were heard...but that in no way suggests they were fired at individuals," he said.

"They could have been fired in the air, they could have been fired in a number of circumstances."

Mr Morrison said he could not confirm how the asylum seeker who died was killed, and said there were still conflicting reports about his location at the time of his death.

He also said he had no confirmation of reports that people came into the compound with weapons including machetes, nor any reports of any injuries that would be consistent with such weapons.

Mr Morrison said an additional 100 security staff have been placed on standby to be transferred to Manus Island, after 130 staff were sent to the island in February. A full review of incidents on Manus Island will also be undertaken by Mr Morrison's departmental secretary.

He also said the Prime Minister Tony Abbott had spoken to PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill to discuss the incident, and Mr O'Neill confirmed his commitment to offshore processing.

Refugee advocates have claimed unspecified "locals" and police entered the premises and attacked detainees; a local reporter asserted that it was local staff working for security contractor G4S who weighed in on asylum-seekers, reportedly with iron bars and machetes, causing mass injuries.

PNG media claim to have spoken with a G4S security guard who confirmed police fired the shots to try and contain the protesting asylum seekers. “Police were not allowed to fire shots in the military area. They will face the military management today,” the guard said. Local media also reported soldiers from a nearby naval base were also called to the scene.

PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill sent a delegation to Manus Island to investigate the incident.

Meanwhile, a man whose brother is detained on Manus Island has told the ABC of how he got a phone call during the incident, where he claimed he was "covered with blood".

Ghulam Murtaza, who fled Pakistan and is in Australia on a bridging visa, told the ABC his brother Ghulam Mustafa told him police and locals were trying to force the asylum seekers from the detention centre.

"He was crying and he was shouting. He said, 'the local people of Manus Island and police are fighting with us'," he said.

Earlier today, Mr Morrison said the suggestion that PNG police had entered the facility was incorrect, saying the injuries were inflicted upon asylum seekers after they had escaped the detention complex.

"There are all sorts of rumours that are put around in this environment,'' he said.

"We don't know what occurred outside the centre and that obviously will be the subject of an (PNG government) investigation into that person's death.''

Mr Morrison told a press conference in Darwin this morning that 13 people remain in a serious condition in hospital after the overnight riot - the second in as many days.

"The deceased person involved a head injury and that person passed away on transfer to the Lorengau hospital," he said.

Manus situation 'out of control'
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Manus MP Ron Knights describes the events that led to violence at the PNG detention centre and says centre management blocked his attempts to provide local assistance

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18 Feb 2014

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Another man has a skull fracture was evacuated to a "major" hospital in Australia, while a third person suffered a gunshot wound to the buttocks. Of the 77 who received treatment, 40 have so far been discharged.

"This is a tragedy," Mr Morrison told reporters in Darwin.

"This was a very dangerous situation where people decided to protest in a very violent way and to take themselves outside the centre and place themselves at great risk."

He said the incident was "distressing" but not unexpected, and the government had been taking steps over recent weeks to boost security at the centre.

He praised the bravery of staff involved in the "very tense and very stressful" handling the riots, which were brought under control about 3am.

The Minister said the outbreak was part of a "rolling series of protests", but the facility was not destroyed and will be able to resume operations.

"As it has this morning, breakfast has been served," he said.

Mr Morrison claimed the "vast majority" of asylum seekers were not involved and were taken to the local oval for their own safety.

The minister said the government's resolve in sticking to its border protection policies was "absolute''.

"There will be those who will seek to take down our policies, to take down our processing centres, to try and destroy the regime we have put in place.''

Security firm denies outside attack

The security firm at the centre, G4S claims reports locals breached the fence are unfounded.

The breach of the perimeter fence followed two days of demonstrations by transferees, it said in a statement.

"A number of transferees were injured after they breached the perimeter fence and the matter became a law enforcement issue for PNG authorities," the statement said.

"G4S staff were able to restore order withing the Centre without the use of force."

It said staff were conducting a roll call of detainees.

An aerial view of Manus Island, the offshore processing centre has been slammed by the UN. Picture: Gary RamageSource: The Australian

Early reports of violence

Refugee advocate Ian Rintoul claims it was locals who breached the fence.

"PNG police and locals carried out systematic attacks, savage attacks on the asylum seekers last night," Mr Rintoul has told the ABC, after speaking with some detainees by phone.

"If there are asylum seekers outside the perimeter fences it's because they fled for their lives late last night," he said.

"Locals armed with machetes, pipes, sticks and stones attacked asylum seekers with one reportedly thrown from the second story of a building," Ian Rintoul told Radio New Zealand early this morning.

The spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition repeated claims that up to 50 people were injured in one compound, including "bashings (and) cuts from machetes".

He said gunshots were heard and "one person we are told was actually thrown off the first floor of one of the buildings".

Mr Rintoul rejects Mr Morrison's claim local police did not enter the centre and fears there could be asylum seekers lying "severely injured in the bush somewhere".

He points the finger at a "black economy", operating between guards, locals and detainees swapping cigarettes and other goods, as well as the "very existence of the detention centre" for the building tension.

"The thing is dysfunctional," he said.

Australian medical staff who work at the centre early this morning told Greens immigration spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young shots had been fired.

"They fear that one person may have actually been shot in the incident last night," Senator Hanson-Young told the ABC. The report has since been verified.

She said her understanding is locals were involved, supporting Mr Rintoul's claim.

"There is chaos going on there," she warned.

The Humanitarian Research Partners say detainees reported by phone that the PNG police and locals had the run of the detention centre. "There is one report that a man has been left with his eye hanging from its socket after a bashing," their Facebook page reports.

Facilities at the Manus Island Regional Processing Facility, used for the detention of asylum seekers that arrive by boat. (Photo by the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

MPs demand details

The Opposition believes a full inquiry and urgent action is needed because the Manus Island centre is so critical.

"I can’t stress enough how important the Manus Island detention facility is to Australia’s strategy for dealing with boats coming from Indonesia," Shadow Immigration Minister Richard Marles told the ABC.

"It’s becoming apparent that Manus Island is melting down on Minister Morrison’s watch," he said.

She also accused the government of “bragging” about poor conditions at the Papua New Guinea-based facility, which was the scene of a perimeter breach on Monday night.

“This is exactly what has been threatened in what has become Australia's gulag,” she told reporters in Hobart. She said Immigration minister Scott Morrison needed to provide a full explanation.

“Ministerial responsibility has to mean something and Scott Morrison has to stop hiding,” Senator Milne said.

“It is craven and cowardly for him to constantly refuse to answer questions when it suits him and now try and pass this off as something that the PNG authorities will have to deal with.

“He has to deal with it, he's the minister, he's been bragging about the conditions in these detention centres.”

Senator Milne said reports some asylum seekers were fleeing the violence, rather than taking part in a riot, needed explanation.

“Let's actually have the truth before we go running around suggesting that it was asylum seekers who are to blame and suggesting in some way that the victims of this are in some way responsible,” she said.

Greens immigration spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young also said the centre must be closed in light of the revelations of "mass chaos".

"I think the public would be horrified today,” the Senator told reporters in Adelaide.

"I think it’s absolutely delusional for this government to think that things can keep going on the way they are."

Ms Hanson-Young also said keeping the facility open "is untenable".

In Canberra, Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek said Australians needed to hear details of the incident.

"We've got Australians working on Manus Island, and of course we're concerned about any asylum seekers or locals who might have been injured or in any way in danger," she told ABC radio today.

Detention ... the Manus Island detention centre.Source: Supplied

End result of 'weeks of upheaval'

The Manus Island detention facility has been the subject of serious upheavals for two weeks, said Nick Solomon, a Papua New Guinean reporter on the scene.

Mr Solomon disputed claims that local Manus Islanders attacked the detention compound last night, saying it was local staff working for security contractor G4S who weighed in on asylum-seekers, reportedly with iron bars and machetes, causing mass injuries.

Mr Solomon said senior Australian staff working for G4S had secured the hospital and were refusing to allow reporters to speak to doctors, who were currently conducting surgery on three people with apparent serious machete wounds.

He said asylum-seekers had been demonstrating for the past fortnight as they demanded certainty over their future.

"The detainees have been writing placards and demonstrating and shouting 'Freedom, PNG help us, we want freedom,'" Mr Solomon said. "On Sunday night they wanted some answers from Australia."

Comments on this story

William Tell of Employed and paying tax - Darwin. Posted at 11:13 AM February 19, 2014

All the deaths, all the injuries and all of the costs of these people attempting to relocate to our country since the ALP took over from John Howard is the direct responsibility of the ALP and the Greens. If the borders cannot be controlled the number of people attempting tho relocate will only increase. To the Morrison and Abbott team , KEEP IT UP! The majority of Australians support your actions. Do not listen to the ABC and its clearly socialist minded editors & management.